This phase of the pressure campaign got its start from a New York Times column by Andrew Ross Sorkin which wondered, "What if the finance industry — credit card companies ... credit card processors ... and banks ... were to effectively set new rules for the sales of guns in America?"

If the banks wouldn’t play ball, then their biggest customers, "McDonald’s, Starbucks, Apple, Amazon, AT&T, CVS and others" would be pressured into pressuring them. That way a few corporations could decide which parts of the Constitution they’ll write out of existence in their Terms of Service.

And then Sorkin began calling up chief execs to discuss his bright idea for corporate government. They included Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat who had served on Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability and had hosted a retreat featuring Hillary Clinton. Citigroup had a long relationship with the Clintons and had warned thatTrump’s victory could lead to an economic “slowdown”.

A follow-up article suggested modifying merchant control codes to single out any store that sells firearms and using GPS signals to shut off credit card transactions around gun shows.

The extensive surveillance powers of financial companies would be used to build a police state.

And now Sorkin is back with more in the New York Times.

"How Banks Unwittingly Finance Mass Shootings" is fairly typical of the fake outrage panic that has been used to push for government regulation of social media. Now it flips the argument by insisting that if banks don't impose gun control, they're liable for shootings.

The argument here is that credit cards were used by mass shooters to buy guns. Of course credit cards are used to buy everything.

People use credit cards to buy alcohol, pot Nazi memorabilia.

Andrew Ross Sorkin and the New York Times would like to turn banks into the administrators of a police state responsible for deciding what their customers should be allowed to buy.

Is alcoholism a problem?

Force credit card companies to crack down on liquor sales. What about obesity? Time to force credit card companies to limit how many sodas people can buy.

It's a Bloombergian dystopian dream and if implemented would actually make cryptocurrency into a going concern.

But most significantly it's another warning that the greatest threat to our freedom may be coming from a lefty corporate monopoly.